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Ashya King leaves hospital in Spain Ashya King arrives in Czech Republic for proton beam treatment
(about 5 hours later)
Five-year-old brain tumour patient Ashya King has left hospital in Spain, according to reports. Five-year-old brain tumour patient Ashya King has arrived in Prague for pioneering cancer treatment that his parents say he was denied in the UK.
Footage from the Materno Infantil hospital in Málaga showed the boy's father, Brett, standing next to an ambulance. Ashya's father, Brett, said his son was "still in a weak state" and would be assessed in the coming days before undergoing the proton beam treatment.
Ashya is expected to be flown to Prague for the proton therapy his parents want him to receive. Ashya arrived in the Czech Republic by private medical jet on Monday afternoon after undergoing treatment at Málaga's Materno Infantil hospital in southern Spain.
Doctors at the clinic were meeting on Monday morning to discuss his treatment. His arrival in Prague comes 11 days after the five-year-old hit the headlines when his parents took him from Southampton General hospital without the consent of doctors.
A spokeswoman for the Spanish hospital said: "We don't have any new information. The doctors are deciding now. They are discussing if the boy can be admitted to hospital in Prague." The couple travelled to Spain, where they were subsequently arrested and held in custody after British police raised the alarm. They were released when prosecutors withdrew an arrest warrant in the wake of a public outcry.
Sky News reported that Ashya's mother, Naghmeh, was understood to be travelling with her son in the ambulance while the boy's father followed in a taxi. Speaking after arriving at the Proton Medical Centre in Prague, Brett King told Sky News: "We're just so happy to be here. One month in trying to get here, pleading with the doctors, researching day and night to try and prove that proton was the best way to treat my son.
A private plane is thought to be waiting at Málaga airport. "In the end I couldn't convince them so we had to go spend time in the prisons – but eventually we made it, that's the main thing.
Ashya hit the headlines after his parents took him from Southampton General hospital on 28 August without doctors' permission. "We managed to get it all sorted out and be here at the Proton centre. This is what we wanted from the beginning."
King said Ashya's strength was improving and that he was aware of his surroundings, but that he would be observed closely by doctors before deciding whether he should undergo further chemotherapy before the proton beam treatment.
"He's still in a weak state but we've got a few days to help him and I'm sure they're going to give him the best treatment but not so strong it knocks him down. We just hope for the best for him."
He said that after being arrested the situation just got "worse and worse", leading to the couple being held in custody in a Madrid jail away from their son for 72 hours.
"They took our son away from us, nobody was allowed to see him. It's not just us being in prison, but when a little boy has got cancer he needs his parents," he added, thanking the public for rallying behind the family.
A spokeswoman for the Proton Therapy Centre in Prague confirmed that Ashya was to be admitted to the hospital on Monday and would be visited by his father.